NHS Fareham and Gosport CCG

An “arbitrary” gap in regulation is preventing NHS care failures, including alleged cover-ups, from being investigated according to senior figures who have led some of the most important NHS safety inquiries of recent years.

Thousands of disabled children who need a wheelchair are still being forced to wait more than four months from the time of their referral to the equipment being delivered, an exclusive HSJ analysis of official data has revealed.

More than 450 patients died from prescriptions made “without medical justification” at a hospital where the use of opioids resulted in an “institutionalised practice of shortening patients’ lives”, an investigation has found.

Areas covered by new care model vanguards saw a fall in the GP referral rate during 2016 and 2017, and very slightly lower growth in emergency admission rates than the rest of England, analysis by HSJ indicates.

HSJ analysis has identified the clinical commissioning groups with greatest improvements and biggest declines in patient access to GP services over the last three years, following the annual GP patient survey.